Western Digital, makers of hard drives, has a message for managers who need to mind the store for small-office network attached storage systems. That message is that WD, a Western Digital company, has their backs and has them covered with more options for their small-business needs.

To that end, WD announced Tuesday an expanded lineup of its Red NAS SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) Hard Drives with 2.5-inch up to 1 TB (terabyte) and 3.5 inch 4 TB versions.

The new additions strengthen WD's ability to offer more choices in its Red NAS line, specifically designed for home and small-office network-attached storage systems with one- to five-drive bays.

From WD, the good news is a wider choice of form factors. The company's decision to go with more choices was based on what it found out about the wish lists of partners and end users.

"Through dialogue with our NAS partners and customer advocacy for WD Red, we saw the need for additional capacity in the 3.5-inch form factor and delivered our new 4 TB offering," said Matt Rutledge, vice president of client storage for WD.

Interest in 4 TB Capacity

The 4 TB option is for small businesses and consumers with one- to five-bay NAS units either seeking to install or to upgrade to the full 4 TB maximum for more robust storage capacity.

At the same time, said Rutledge, WD saw market interest for a reliable but small NAS solution in a 2.5-inch hard drive.

"This small form factor enables our customers to use high capacity NAS hard drives with high performance, quiet operation and low power consumption in compact NAS enclosures," he said, adding that he also sees an opportunity in smaller-footprint NAS systems, media players and other industrial applications.

Irvine, Calif.-based WD, with these expanded versions, now has a Red model price ranging from $79 to $229. Suggested prices are $79 for the 2.5-inch, 750 GB model; $99 for the 2.5-inch, 1 TB Red model and $229 for the 3.5-inch, 4 TB model.

SOHO Turning to NAS

WD's move to offer more choices in NAS-friendly drives comes at a time when industry trackers confirm that the storage market on the small office, home office (SOHO) level is indeed NAS-friendly.

Citing research firm IDC's Worldwide Personal and Entry Level Storage Tracker IDC 2013, the WD announcement on Tuesday noted that NAS will continue to experience strong growth through the forecast period (to 2015), driven by a major shift of storage deployments toward IP-connected systems.

WD produces drives deployed by OEMs and integrators as well as by the company in providing its own storage products. WD is shipping the Red hard drives now through distributors and resellers. For WD Red customers, the drives are covered by a three-year limited warranty. The drives are qualified to work with WD OEM partners. A regularly updated list of WD Red-qualified products and manufacturers is available on the WD website.